STEAMING UP RESTAURANT PROFITABILITY

By Georgie Desailly

A profitable hospitality industry underwrites the entire economy; it is the soul of our cities and towns. I created Peiso to help business owners improve their practices and become more profitable.

What drives restaurant profitability in today’s age?

This is the sector’s biggest question, and one that Restaurant Profitability Expert and industry thought leader, Ivan Brewer, has dedicated his career to solving. With over 25 years’ experience managing several multinational companies in the hospitality and innovation spaces, Ivan is now in the process of launching the world’s first hospitality profit software that is set to revolutionise how the sector operates post-COVID-19.

After suffering a severe spinal cord injury four years ago, Ivan was unable to return to working directly in venues, and instead turned his attention to developing a solution to the problems he identified whilst working as a manager in the sector.

“My life changed when I had emergency spinal surgery, and whilst I started consulting businesses on profitability, I grew frustrated by the lack of impact and reach I was achieving,” he explains.

Peiso profitability software integrates venue rostering, accounting and point-of-sale (POS) to offer businesses advice on how to increase profit margins and manage labour forces. Thanks to his recent completion of the 16-week StartUp Onramp pre-accelerator course facilitated by Smart Precinct NQ, Ivan has found product market viability and is in the process of securing investment.

“Peiso is a profit-first hospitality software that tells venues how to manage their purchasing and labour spends to maximise profitability,” he explains.

“As a first of its kind software, the feedback from beta testers has been extraordinary, describing it as a game-changer for hospitality, and we are currently in discussions with investors and national partnerships.”

According to the Restaurant Resource Group, the average profit margin for the restaurant industry is between two and six percent. Since restaurants can take many years to reach the top percentiles of profitability, Ivan says businesses in the sector will be able to leverage Peiso as a tool to grow their profit margins and return to some semblance post-COVID-19.

“The new post-COVID complexity means that businesses can no longer rely on historical norms like revenue forecasts and labour targets, and cannot wait until the end of the month or quarter for accounting information to inform their decisions,” he continues.

“Peiso helps to make sense of this complexity by providing explicit information on those business models and highlighting what needs to change.”

Prior to COVID-19, the sector experienced an increase from 14,000 to 42,000 cafes and restaurants over the span of a decade. In spite of this, the total market only increased by five percent. Ivan points out that whilst COVID has certainly hit the hospitality industry hard, it has also highlighted a need to change business practices that weren’t previously working.

“For too long the hospitality industry has been struggling, with a 50% failure rate, and 40% of businesses pre-COVID not making any money,” he says.

“The historical business model is fractured; it has been for years, however, as the industry reemerges, we will have a once in a lifetime opportunity to capitalise on the pent-up demand from customers that have not been able to enjoy dining out. “

There is light at the end of the tunnel and now everyone is starting to see it.”

Founder, Ivan Brewer

Peiso Software